Methods and systems for connected sales associate services

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing a connected sales associate service application via a mobile device. The application provide for an integrated platform upon which various tools for providing support to a sales associate are built. The application includes a database of information regarding the sales associates and operational information regarding a retail establishment, and provides a user interface for allowing the sales associate to access a central server for the retail establishment along with multiple additional sales associates on multiple additional mobile devices. The user interface displays information regarding trending sales data for the retail establishment and information regarding the sales associates accessing the central server. A sales associate can select and display information regarding one of the sales associates accessing the central server to at least one of view, create, delete, or assign a task to the selected sales associate

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present description relates generally to multi-channel connectivelyof a sales force and more particularly to methods and systems forproviding connected sales associate services.

BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART

In-store sales associates have traditionally been provided with basicin-store electronic support including, for example, point-of-sale (POS)support. Traditionally, POS support has been embodied by an in-storenon-mobile cash-register that is centrally located to allow customers topay for merchandise, and to allow sales associates to provide limited,stationary sales support, such as product lookups, sales manuals, etc.

Recent developments of robust mobile devices has lead to animplementation of a mobile platform POS support system. For example, USPatent publication No. 2011/0231272 is directed to a retail mobile POSsoftware application that provides mobile POS support to retailers. Thedescribed system includes a scanner and iPod touch coupled with a retailPOS system, and uses a touch screen interface to POS features asalesperson would typically use to help a guest, including purchaseswith credit, gift and debit cards, cash, and making returns. The mobilesystem also combines iPod Touch features with a magnetic stripe reader,barcode scanner, and software to speed plastic and cash transactions.

For credit card and instant credit transactions, guests or purchasers,write their signature on the device using finger entry and control. Anyemployee who has the portable electronic device can accept cashtransactions. After entering all the products and totaling the cost, theemployee presses an on-screen “Cash” button to electronically open oneof any number of cash drawers installed around the store. Guests (orpurchasers) will continue to have the option to receive a printed ore-mailed receipt, or both.

The described mobile POS software application, however, is limited inthat it is simply an extension of the traditional POS system. Today'ssales associates, however, demand additional mobile access tomultichannel processing and support systems to provide for enhancedsales activities. Thus, while the background systems and methodsidentified herein, generally work for their intended purpose, thesubject disclosure provides improvements thereto, particularly byproviding systems and methods for connected sales associate services byprovided mobile connectivity to various sales support systems through asingle integrated mobile device.

SUMMARY

In the present application, the systems and methods disclosed providefor an integrated platform upon which various tools for providingsupport to a sales associate are built. Specifically, the presentapplication discloses an integrated system for electronically providingrelevant sales information and/or tools to a sales associate such thatthe sale associate is capable of actively performing their service job.The system provides for mobile and/or desktop device connectivity andincludes multi-channel integration in a social networking and retailenvironment, as well as reward, financial, marketing and/or POSservices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present disclosure, reference may behad to various examples shown in the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram form components of an examplecomputer network environment suitable for implementing the examplemethods and systems for connected sales associate service disclosed.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example connected sales associate system inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method by which a user may be presentedwith a dash-board view of the connect application.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method by which a user with differentpermissions may be presented with a dash-board view of the connectapplication.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method by which a user may view taskassociated with a selected connected user.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example method by which a user may view a listingof sales associates connected through the application.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method by which a user may view a mapillustration of sales associates connected through the application.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method by which a user may punch-in and/orpunch-out for time keeping purposes.

FIGS. 9 and 10 each illustrate an example method by which a user mayview various application associated with the user.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example method by which a user may viewadditional application associated with the user in a list format.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example method by which a user may add, modify,and/or delete an item management list.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example method by which a user may view, create,and/or contact a sales force generated lead.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example method by which a user may lookup arewards customer information.

FIGS. 15-17 illustrate an example method by which a user may add acustomer to a rewards program.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example method by which a user may customize theapplication layout of the example connect system disclosed herein.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example method by which a user may view otherusers operating on the example connect system disclosed herein.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example method by which a user may view anothermap of the current location of others users operating on the exampleconnect system disclosed herein.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example method by which a user may view commentsposted to a social media application on the example connect systemdisclosed herein.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example method by which a user may view metricsregarding a retail establishment, enterprise, and/or personalperformance on the example connect system disclosed herein.

FIGS. 23 and 24 together illustrate an example method by which a usermay view and monitor activities associated with the job of the salesassociate on the example connect system disclosed herein.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example method by which a user may view personalinformation on the example connect system disclosed herein.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example method by which a user with properauthorization may view various report data on the example connect systemdisclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description of example methods and systems is not intendedto limit the scope of the description to the precise form or formsdetailed herein. Instead the following description is intended to beillustrative so that others may follow its teachings.

A mobile application for connecting sales associates to various servicesystems is disclosed hereinbelow. In general, the system provides formobile device connectivity for a sales associate to access variousretail systems. In at least one example, the disclosed inventionleverages mobile technology, chat functionality, social networking,rewards, electronic catalogs, marketing and/or sales data, retail onlineshopping technology and/or a consumers' social connections, such asthrough a social media website, to enable each sales associate toprovide a customize and personal shopping experience for multiplecustomers while maintaining their retail location mobility.

In one example, the mobile application is a hybrid application deliveredon mobile devices such as an iPod and/or an iPad. This exampleapplication may service multiple store associates in multiple locationsacross different and/or similar retail umbrellas. Still further theexample application may serve as a single point of entry for tasks,applications, information, reports, and/or other suitable programs.Still further, users of the example applications may be provided withimmediate access to their daily task lists, lead management, time-clockmanagement, social media, store statistics, store performance, etc.

With reference to the figures, the following discloses various examplesystems and methods for providing a system for connectivity of a salesassociate to a retail support network. To this end, a processing device20″, illustrated in the exemplary form of a mobile communication device,a processing device 20′, illustrated in the exemplary form of a computersystem, and a processing device 20 illustrated in schematic form, areprovided with executable instructions to, for example, provide a meansfor a retail organization to provide standard connectivity to a salesassociate for accessing a host system server 68 and, among other things,for connecting to a hosted online retail environment (e.g. a retailstore), a social networking site, a user profile, customer and/or salessupport, other sales associates, personal shoppers, etc. Generally, thecomputer executable instructions reside in program modules which mayinclude routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc.that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciatethat the processing devices 20, 20′, 20″ illustrated in FIG. 1 may beembodied in any device having the ability to execute instructions suchas, by way of example, a personal computer, a mainframe computer, apersonal-digital assistant (“PDA”), a cellular telephone, a mobiledevice, a tablet, an ereader, or the like. Furthermore, while describedand illustrated in the context of a single processing device 20, 20′,20″ those of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that thevarious tasks described hereinafter may be practiced in a distributedenvironment having multiple processing devices linked via a local orwide-area network whereby the executable instructions may be associatedwith and/or executed by one or more of multiple processing devices.

For performing the various tasks in accordance with the executableinstructions, the example processing device 20 includes a processingunit 22 and a system memory 24 which may be linked via a bus 26. Withoutlimitation, the bus 26 may be a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and/or alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. As needed for anyparticular purpose, the system memory 24 may include read only memory(ROM) 28 and/or random access memory (RAM) 30. Additional memory devicesmay also be made accessible to the processing device 20 by means of, forexample, a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface34, and/or an optical disk drive interface 36. As will be understood,these devices, which would be linked to the system bus 26, respectivelyallow for reading from and writing to a hard disk 38, reading from orwriting to a removable magnetic disk 40, and for reading from or writingto a removable optical disk 42, such as a CD/DVD ROM or other opticalmedia. The drive interfaces and their associated computer-readable mediaallow for the nonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules, and other data for the processingdevice 20. Those of ordinary skill in the art will further appreciatethat other types of non-transitory computer-readable media that canstore data and/or instructions may be used for this same purpose.Examples of such media devices include, but are not limited to, magneticcassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges,random access memories, nano-drives, memory sticks, and other read/writeand/or read-only memories.

A number of program modules may be stored in one or more of thememory/media devices. For example, a basic input/output system (BIOS)44, containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within the processing device 20, such as duringstart-up, may be stored in ROM 28. Similarly, the RAM 30, hard drive 38,and/or peripheral memory devices may be used to store computerexecutable instructions comprising an operating system 46, one or moreapplications programs 48 (such as a Web browser), other program modules50, and/or program data 52. Still further, computer-executableinstructions may be downloaded to one or more of the computing devicesas needed, for example via a network connection.

To allow a user to enter commands and information into the processingdevice 20, input devices such as a keyboard 54 and/or a pointing device56 are provided. While not illustrated, other input devices may includea microphone, a joystick, a game pad, a scanner, a camera, touchpad,touch screen, virtual keyboard, etc. These and other input devices wouldtypically be connected to the processing unit 22 by means of aninterface 58 which, in turn, would be coupled to the bus 26. Inputdevices may be connected to the processor 22 using interfaces such as,for example, a parallel port, game port, firewire, or a universal serialbus (USB). To view information from the processing device 20, a monitor60 or other type of display device may also be connected to the bus 26via an interface, such as a video adapter 62. In addition to the monitor60, the processing device 20 may also include other peripheral outputdevices, not shown, such as, for example, speakers, cameras, printers,or other suitable device.

As noted, the processing device 20 may also utilize logical connectionsto one or more remote processing devices, such as the host system server68 having associated data repository 68A. In this regard, while the hostsystem server 68 has been illustrated in the exemplary form of acomputer, it will be appreciated that the host system server 68 may,like processing device 20, be any type of device having processingcapabilities. Again, it will be appreciated that the host system server68 need not be implemented as a single device but may be implemented ina manner such that the tasks performed by the host system server 68 aredistributed amongst a plurality of processing devices/databases locatedat different geographical locations and linked through a communicationnetwork. Additionally, the host system server 68 may have logicalconnections to other third party systems via a network 12, such as, forexample, the Internet, LAN, MAN, WAN, cellular network, cloud network,enterprise network, virtual private network, wired and/or wirelessnetwork, or other suitable network, and via such connections, will beassociated with data repositories that are associated with such otherthird party systems. Such third party systems may include, withoutlimitation, systems of banking, credit, or other financial institutions,systems of third party providers of goods and/or services, systems ofshipping/delivery companies, etc.

For performing tasks as needed, the host system server 68 may includemany or all of the elements described above relative to the processingdevice 20. In addition, the host system server 68 would generallyinclude executable instructions for, among other things, coordinating apersonal shopper relationship, providing a social network, storing auser's personal information, facilitating recommendations, providingaccess to merchandise, etc.

Communications between the processing device 20 and the host systemserver 68 may be exchanged via a further processing device, such as anetwork router (not shown), that is responsible for network routing.Communications with the network router may be performed via a networkinterface component 73. Thus, within such a networked environment, e.g.,the Internet, World Wide Web, LAN, cloud, or other like type of wired orwireless network, it will be appreciated that program modules depictedrelative to the processing device 20, or portions thereof, may be storedin the non-transitory memory storage device(s) of the host system server68.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated an overview of an examplesystem 200 for providing multiple sales associates with access tomultiple application providing connectivity to a retail environment'snetwork in accordance with an example of the present disclosure. Thesystem 200 is well-suited for operation on a distributed network system,such as, for example, a client-server architecture utilizing theInternet, cloud, mobile network, cellular network, or other suitablewired and/or wireless network. The system 200 may be implemented invarious other communication networks and/or mediums as desiredincluding, for example, a localized, non-distributed network.

Generally speaking, the system 200 is operable to facilitate onlineconnectivity of multiple sale associates to various in-storeapplications as well as networked and/or non-networked datarepositories. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the artthat the number of sales associates concurrently using the system 200may vary as desired. In the illustrated example, a first associate 210may access the system 200 through any suitable device 20, such as acomputer system 212, a smart phone 214, a tablet computer 216, or anyother suitable known or yet to be developed communication device. In thedisclosed example, the communication device 20 is capable of Internetbrowsing, textual transmission, and/or video transmission (e.g., videochat, video phone, etc), but it will be appreciated by one of ordinaryskill in the art that the communication device may be any suitablecommunication device including any voice, email, and/or textcommunication with or without use of other transmission types.

Concurrently, in the illustrated example, a second sales associate 220may also access the system 200 through any suitable device, such as acomputer system 222, a smart phone 224, a tablet computer 226, or anyother suitable known or yet to be developed communication device.Similar to the first user's devices, the communication devices 222, 224,226 are each capable of Internet browsing, textual transmission, and/orvideo transmission (e.g., video chat, video phone, etc) as desired.

Each sales associate 210, 220 accesses the host server 68 through thenetwork(s) 12. In this example, each associate 210, 220 accesses thesystem 68 through a separate network 12, but it will be appreciated thatthe network access may be architected in any suitable manner. Each ofthe network(s) 12 provides network routing utilizing a cloud basednetwork, although any appropriate routing device (software, firmware,hardware, and/or the like) may be utilized. The connection between theuser 210 and the user 220 may be through the network 12, through asocial network 68′, and/or through the host system 68.

The illustrated approach may take advantage of the convergence of mobiledevices, IP telephony (e.g., VoIP, SIP, etc) and Internet applicationsuch as, for example, Facetime, Skype, etc. The example system 200 mayalso enable interactive communications amongst user across variedplatforms, (e.g.,. iOS, Android, Windows, etc.), devices (e.g., Mobilephones, PCs, Macs, Tablets, etc), networks (e.g., Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, etc.),and media (e.g., voice, text, video, etc).

For allowing a user to setup and/or manage all of their sales associatetasks, messages, etc. the host server system 68 may make available tothe sales associate one or more tools by which a sales associate can,for example, interact with graphical user interface elements to create,perform, manage and/or receive information such as sales data,point-of-sale interactivity, sales and/or marketing information, rewardsinformation, credit information, manuals, retail store information,employment data and/or records, and/or any other suitable information.

By way of example only, FIG. 3 illustrates a screen shot of variousmanagement tools that may be provided to a sales associate at the usercomputer device 20 via the host system server 68. As illustrated, asales associate management application 300 may include a sales associatearea 302, by which a use can see information regarding the currentlylogged in sales associate, a logout selectable interface 304, which canbe utilized to disconnect and/or deauthorize the device 20 from theserver 68, a sales data area 306 to provide the sales associate withlinks to authorized sales data trends provided by the server 68, alisting area 308 providing a listing of sales associates logged into thesystem, an application area 310 proving a selectable listing and/oriconic view of available applications, and a navigation area 312allowing quick navigation of various user interfaces as will bedescribed herein. Additionally, any alerts, such as, for example anynews alerts, may be displayed to the sales associate at an area 320 asillustrated in FIG. 4. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skillin the art that these areas need not be displayed concurrently and/or inthe exact manner as shown in FIG. 2 and that variations may be made asdesired.

More particularly, once the user navigates to the sales associatemanagement application 300 that is hosted in the host server system 68,a determination may be made as to whether or not the user is currentlylogged into the system as illustrated in FIG. 3. If the sales associateis not logged into the system and it is not indicated to the system thatthe user has otherwise previously used the sales associate managementapplication 300, which indication may be stored in a cookie stored onthe device 20, or may be provided as a dedicated device (e.g.,permanently logged in as a specific user), the sales associate may beprovided with a welcoming message and directed to the area 304 where theuser may access a log-in procedure.

When the user is logged into the sales associate management application300, the system may next determine the authorization level of the userby querying the server 68. Upon determination of the authorizationlevel, the system may display different information to the salesassociate. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the sales associate isdetermined to be a manager at area 302. Accordingly, in this example,the area 308 may provide a listing of the associates reporting to themanager that are currently logged into the system. For example, login inas a manger may cause the server 68 to query the data repository 68Aand/or any other suitable system component to determine the availablesales associates currently logged into the system. It will beappreciated, however, that information provided to the user at the area308 and/or any other area of the application 300 may be predeterminedand/or otherwise defaulted based upon the authorization level of theuser, and/or may be overwritten and/or other determined through userpreferences set by the user and associated with the user log-in. In someexample, the listing of sales associates may include a listing of allassociated sales associates, with a visual indication on some and/or allusers who are not currently logged into the system, such as graying-out,etc. As illustrated in FIG. 4, if the server 68 returns that the user ofthe application 300 is a sales associate reporting to a manager, theapplication 300 may display at the area 308 a listing of tasks assignedand/or other relevant information to the associate by a user ofauthority, such as for example the manager.

Turning now to FIG. 5, when a user presented with a listing of salesassociates, as illustrated in FIG. 3 selects and/or otherwise indicatesa selection of one of the listed associated (for example by clicking,touching, and/or hovering over the name of the associate), additionalinformation regarding the selected associate is displayed to the user atan area 502. In particular, selection of the listed sales associatecauses the server 68 to query the data repository 69A and/or an othersuitable component, to return information specific to the individualchosen, and to which the user has the proper authorization to view,either through managerial hierarchy or privacy settings. In thisexample, the additional information regarding area 502 is a listing ofassociate tasks assigned to the associate. A example task managementapplication is described in detail in U.S. Ser. No. 12/622,803, U.S.Publication No. 2011/0126123, incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. Additionally, the additional information my include theselected users name, photo, profile, and/or a contact method in an area504.

Still further, as can be seen in FIG. 5, navigation to the specificassociate details may also be obtained by selecting a “people”navigation area 506 on the navigation bar 312. It will be appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art, however, that the name and/or locationof the navigation area 506 may be varied as desired. Another examplearea 600 that may be displayed to the user upon selection of thenavigation area 506 is illustrated in FIG. 6. In this example, selectionof the “people” navigation area 506 causes the server 68 to query hedata repository and/or any other suitable system component to return thestatus and/or listing of sales associates currently logged into thesystem, and/or currently unavailable as desired. The results of thequery by the server 68 is displayed in an area 602. In the illustratedexample, the listing includes all associates currently logged in to theapplication 300.

In still other example, (not shown) the listing may be filtered, sorted,and/or otherwise manipulated by the user as desired. Still further, thelisting may by displayed as a list by selecting an area 604, as shown inFIG. 6. Alternatively, the listing of associates (and their associatedavailability) may be displayed as a map view 700 including an indicationof each associate utilizing, for example, push-pin type indicators asare well known in the art, by selection an area 702 as shown in FIG. 7.In at least one example, selection of the area 702 may cause the server68 to query the data repository 68A for a map and/or other illustrationof the retail location in which the device 20 is located. It will beappreciated that the device 20 may be located through any known and/oryet to be discovered location service including, for instance, indoorGPS and/or network location services. Additionally, the server 68 mayquery each of the device 20 in use by the listed associates to determinetheir location as well in either real-time and/or through other locationservices including for instance check-in services. As will be understoodby one of ordinary skill in the art, the location indicators may beupdated as desired (e.g. to provide a real-time indication of theirtracked location) and furthermore, the color and/or label of theindicator may be altered depending upon various status indicatorsincluding the user's role, association with the user, etc. In at leastone example, the map view may be filtered by selecting the area 704 tocause the application to remove and/or highlight certain individualsand/or items in the map view as desired.

Turning now to FIG. 8, in order to provide shift time-clock managementtools, the example application 300 is provided with a “punch tool”application area 802. In this example, selection of the area 802 causesthe server 68 to query the current time-clock status of the logged inassociate and present an area 804 to the user showing the results of thequery. For instance, the area may displayed the current users employmentidentification umber and/or any other suitable identifier as well as anycumulative hours, punch-ins, punch-outs, breaks remaining, etc. The area804 may also provide selectable punch-in/punch-out selections and/orbreak selections as illustrated. In this instance, as noted above, theserver 68 may already return the current status of the user regardingthe time-clock and gray out and/or other deactivate the variousselections that are unavailable due to the status of the user. In anyevent, selection of any of the activated buttons will cause the server68 to update the time-clock status of the individual user as necessary,and integration with the accounting/pay time-clock application hosted onthe server 68 and/or any other suitable system component may beseamlessly achieved.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 and 10, in order to provide variousapplications to the user, the system provides a menu of application byselecting the area 902 in the navigation bar 312. By selecting the area902, the server 68 queries the data repository 68A to determine thepres-set and/or customized application available to the user.Alternatively, the application may be stored on the device 20 itself,and the user may have global access and/or restricted access to theapplications based upon their login credentials. In the example of FIGS.9 and 10, the applications are listed in the area 904 as thumbnailicons. It will be appreciated, however, by one of ordinary skill in theart that the method of displaying the applications may vary as desiredincluding listing, etc. Additionally, the example area 904 includes apage indicator 906 to visually describe to the user what page the deviceis displaying in regard to the available applications. As can beappreciated, the application displayed in the area 904 may be ainclusive and/or exclusive set of the application provided for in theapplication area 310 shown in FIG. 3.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, the navigation area 312 may also present theuser with an area 1100 for accessing additional application and/or itemsas desired. For example, in this instance, selection of the area 1100causes the application to query the server 68 and thus provide the userwith additional application and/or features as desired and as authorizedby a query against the data repository 68A and/or a query against thedevice 20. In this example, the additional applications are listed in aselectable list view at the area 1110, although the application may beshown as selectable icons as per FIGS. 9 and 10.

Referring now to FIG. 12, there is illustrated an example interface 1200showing the example application launched by the device 20 when a userselects the “Checklist” application as illustrated in the area 310 inFIG. 3. In this example, the checklist application allows the salesassociate to add 1210, modify 1212, and/or delete 1214 to-do itemsand/or other notes that may be of interest to the sales associate. Topopulate and/or store the created items, the server 68 may query and/orstore the information regarding the items on the data repository 68A.Furthermore, as previously noted, any suitable to-do checklist-typeapplication may be provided including the to-do list previouslydescribed in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/622,803.

Referring to FIG. 13, there is illustrated an example interface 1300showing an example lead management application launched by the device 20when the sales associate selects the “Digital BC” application asillustrated in the area 310 in FIG. 3. In this example, the leadmanagement application is similar to the to-do list managementapplication in that it allows the sales associate the ability to createa new lead 1310, view leads 1312, and/or contact leads 1314 as desired.Still further, similar to the to-do list application, to populate and/orstore created leads, the server 68 queries and/or stores the informationregarding the items on the data repository 68A and returns the relevantdata to the device 20 for display.

Tuning now to FIGS. 14-18, to allow the sales associate to enroll thecustomer into a rewards program, the application provide for an exampleinterface 1400 displayed by an example rewards log-in applicationlaunched by the device 20 when the sales associate selects the “SYWRSignup” application as illustrated in the area 310 in FIG. 3. In thisexample application, the device 20 may provide for a display 1410 toallow the sales associate to input information regarding the customersufficient to allow the server 68 to lookup the customer information init's membership database stored, for example in the data repository 68A.While in this example the customer email is provided in the interface1410, any item suitable for identifying the customer may be utilizedincluding the membership number, phone number, address, other id number,etc. By choosing the “next” button 1412, the sales associate causes theserver 68 to perform a lookup in the data repository and in a match isavailable, display the customer information to the sales associate. Aswill be appreciated, the sales associate may be presented with theoption of canceling the lookup at 1414.

If the server 68 fails to identify the customer, the server will causethe device 20 to display a customer sign-up at FIGS. 15-17 allowing thesales associate to enter an assigned rewards account number if availableat 1500, enter and confirm the customer information at the interface1600, and confirm that the customer has been enrolled with the server 68at 1700. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art thatwhile the flow and interface diagrams illustrated are but one exampleenrollment process that may be used, various other enrollment processesmay be utilized as desired without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 18, there is illustrated an example interface 1800that may be used by the device 20 to cause the server 68 to modify theapplication and/or number of application displayed to the user in theare 310 as illustrated in FIG. 3. In this way, the application may betruly customized to meet each of the sales associate's individual needs.

Referring now to FIGS. 19-26, there is illustrated additional exampleuser interfaces to provide a digital experience for a sales associate.In this example, the application provides for an integrated retailvision that dramatically improves the entire shopping experiencein-store by connecting customers and sales associates to one another. Inone example, the present shopping experience may include a mobile videochat session as described in U.S. application Ser. No. 13/273,459,entitled “Systems And Methods For Providing A Distributed Mobile CallCenter For A Service Establishment,” filed Oct. 14, 2011, andincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In another example,the present shopping experience may include an in-store assistanceapplication as described in U.S. application Ser. No. 13/364,441,entitled “Methods And Systems For Providing Location Based AssistanceVia A Mobile Device,” filed Feb. 2, 2012, and also incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

As described in the identified applications, the present connectedapplication may provide a customer with assistance in-store and mayallow a sales associate the enhanced ability to provide the support. Inparticular, in one example the application may allow a customer to walkinto a retail establishment and provide a “check-in” and/or otheridentification means to inform the application of the customer'spresence. As illustrate in FIG. 19, in this example, an interface 1900causes the server 68 to query the data repository and/or the socialnetwork 68′ to determine which sales associates 1910 and which customers1920 have “checked-in” at the location. In this interface 1900, thesales associate can see who the other associates are in the store andthey can determine which customers are nearby and may require service.

For instance, as illustrated in FIG. 20, another interface 2000 may besimilar to the map view of FIG. 7 in that the sales associate can seeboth other sales associates as well as customer. In this instance thesales associate can view themselves on the store map and can also see amap of other associates and customers to maximize customer coverage. Inaddition, the sales associate can hover over and/or otherwise select thecustomer or sales associate to “push-to-talk”, text, email, video chat,and/or otherwise communicate with the selected person. The technicalcapabilities to support this functionality may be provided by anysuitable in-store navigation aid including Wi-Fi, indoor GPS, etc. Inthe illustrated example, the sales associate can also see how manyassociates and/or customers are using the application at the area 2010,which causes the server 68 to return the location and status of all theusers of the system. In one example, the sales associate may also viewphotos at area 2012, comments at area 2014, and various store metrics atarea 2016, which as described may be stored at the server 68, on thedevice 20, and/or at any other suitable location. Still further, thesales associate may zoom in and see exactly where the other associatesand/or check-ins are located within the department by utilizing thetypical zoom bar 2020.

Turning to FIG. 21, there is illustrated an example interface 2100showing comments from selected the area 2016. As shown, the salesassociate can click-on and/or otherwise select the comments tab 2014 andview all posts on any social networking feed such as, for example,Pebble, Twitter, etc., related to the sales associate's associatedretail establishment. As will be understood, in the area 2100, the usemay be able to view, post, reply, and/or otherwise manipulate varioussocial media posts.

Similarly, as illustrated in FIG. 22, there is illustrates an exampleinterface 2200 showing various store metrics. In the illustratedinterface, a month-to-date (MTD) metrics is viewed and may be tied intoany suitable metric measurement application running on the server 68and/or the device 20 such as, for example, GameOn Metrics. As will beunderstood, the metrics view may be filtered, sorted, manipulated in anydesired manner for providing meaningful store measurements to the salesassociate, including enterprise level, region level, store level (e.g.local), department level, and/or sales associate level.

Examining now FIGS. 23 and 24, there is shown an example interface 2300for displaying various activities that may be predetermined forperformance by the sales associate, such as, for instance, stockingshelves, organizing shelves, price changes, signage changes, helpingcustomers, unloading a truck, stockroom activities,inspections/cleanings, cashiering, service desk, etc. The salesassociate may simply go about their daily activities as they normallydo, with the added ability to track the amount of time spent on eachtask by selecting a start button 2310 and/or a stop button 2312. Asshown in FIG. 24, selecting the activity type may display a clock 2410showing the elapsed time on each task.

Still further as illustrated in FIG. 25, the application may cause thedevice 20 to query the server 68 to provide the sales associate withprivate information regarding the employment of the sales associate. Inparticular, the associate may choose a benefits application that allowsthe sales associate to see their personal information that may be ofvalue to the associate, such as paycheck information, address/contactinformation, paystub information, tax information, calendar, performancemetrics, benefits, etc. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skillin the art that the privacy concerns associated with providing personalinformation over a shared device may be overcome by encryption, deletionof stored data, etc. as desired. In addition to personal information,the sales associate may be able to review human resources specificinformation including job postings, new hire information, orientationinformation, etc.

Finally, as illustrated in FIG. 26, the sales associate may be providedwith sufficient authorization to review the performance of variousindividuals in the retail organization at an interface 2600. In thisexample, as a store manager, the sales associate would have informationavailable such as the number of associates worked, total hours, payroll,hours by activity, etc. In one embodiment, the interface 2600 displays acomparison of how the displayed metrics change over time and/or acomparison between one retail location and another location.Productivity may be provided in the results and store and/or provided bythe server 68 as an enterprise as desired.

Still further, as previously noted, the application may provide thesales associate with the ability to “talk” to other customers and/orsales associate on additional devices 20. In one example, theapplication may provide a push-to-talk feature for a two-way full duplexpeer-to-peer voice call. The example application may support livetalking and allow other applications to operate independently byutilizing, for instance an SIP protocol which may be used on anysuitable device 20 such as an iPad and/or an iPod Touch. Whilecommunication may be limited to interaction within a single store,utilizing a single Wi-Fi network, communication may be broadened toother locations and/or devices as desired. Additionally, the applicationensures good voice quality & low battery usage, while providingin-coming call notification including caller's name and/or caller'sphoto provided by the server 68 and/or the device 20.

Although certain example methods and apparatus have been describedherein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. Onthe contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus, and articles ofmanufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claimseither literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A computer-readable media having stored thereon computerexecutable instructions, wherein the instructions perform steps forconnected a sales associate to a central server via a mobile computingdevice, comprising: hosting a database of information regarding thesales associates and operational information regarding a retailestablishment; and providing a first user interface comprising userinterface elements for allowing the sales associate to access a centralserver for the retail establishment, the central server allowingmultiple additional sales associates on multiple additional mobiledevices to access the central server, wherein the user interface causesthe central sever to query the database to return and displayinformation regarding trending sales data for the retail establishment,wherein the user interface cause the central server to return anddisplay information regarding the sales associates accessing the centralserver, and wherein the user interface allows the sales associate toselect the displayed information regarding one of the sales associatesaccessing the central server to at least one of view, create, delete, orassign a task to the selected sales associate.
 2. A computer-readablemedia as defined in claim 1, wherein the instructions provide for alisting of sales associates accessing the central server to be presentedin a map view.
 3. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1,wherein the instructions provide for the display of multiple applicationto the user.
 4. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1, whereinthe instructions provide for a listing of tasks associated with thesales associate.
 5. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1,wherein the first user interface is provided on at least one of a mobilepersonal computer, a personal-digital assistant (“PDA”), a cellulartelephone, a mobile device, a tablet, or an ereader.
 6. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 1, wherein the instructionsprovide for access by the sales associate to a time-keeping application.7. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1, wherein theinstructions provide for task items displayed within the to-do list tobe filtered via the permission level of the sales associate.
 8. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 1, wherein the instructionsprovide for the sales associate to access a membership portion of arewards program.
 9. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 8,wherein the instructions further provide for the sales associate tocreate a new record in the membership portion of the rewards program.10. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1, wherein theinstructions provide for allowing the sales associate to add one or morecustomer leads to a lead management list.
 11. A computer-readable mediaas defined in claim 10, wherein the instructions provide for allowingthe sales associate to designate a lead item within the lead managementlist as requiring a follow-up action.